Same-sex marriage supporters plan Fairfield vigil

When Kristen Loomis holds her vigil Tuesday, she won't just be thinking about the fate of same-sex marriage in America.

She'll be thinking about her late wife.

"I'm going to miss her Tuesday," said Loomis, of wife Kathy Rardin.

Rardin died last year, leaving Loomis a widow after the two made history in 2008 as the first lesbian couple to legally marry in Solano County.

That right was overturned by Proposition 8 just months after the Vacaville pair -- along with 18,000 other couples in the state-- were married. After years in litigation, the ban has finally reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

Oral arguments are set for Tuesday, and Loomis wants Solano County to join others across the county in a vigil to mark the milestone.

What Tuesday's event in Fairfield will look like will be up to those who show up.

"I certainly didn't feel that it had to be a demonstration. I didn't feel it had to be as noisy as a rally. I think we're in the final stages of deciding this question and getting this problem straightened out in our society," Loomis said.

Solano was the only Bay Area county in which a majority of voters approved of Proposition 8.

"That was kind of embarrassing. I think Solano has come a long way since then," Loomis said.

A Washington Post/ABC Poll last week showed support for same-sex marriage has reached a new high at 58 percent.

"In 10 years, it's flipped. Ten years ago, it was 58 percent against. Here we are today, and it's 58 percent for. With that kind of movement, it's time for the justices to acknowledge it," Loomis said.

Just a day later on Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments on another same-sex marriage issue, the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act that limits the definition of marriage to one between a man and a woman.

This means that legally married same-sex couples like Loomis and Rardin are unable to access a variety of benefits reserved for heterosexual married couples.

"When (Rardin) died, because of DOMA, the federal government refused me the $250 death benefit that Social Security normally pays to a spouse. It's absolutely minor, but it's the principle of the thing," Loomis said.

Similarly, David Janis-Kitzmiller and his husband Jeff file multiple tax returns a year since they cannot file jointly at the federal level, but must do so for the state.

"Tax filing is not an easy task," Janis-Kitzmiller said.

A Fairfield resident, Janis-Kitzmiller and his husband were the first same-sex couple to legally wed in the county. Janis-Kitzmiller is also a former president and current board member of Marriage Equality USA.

The pair will head to Washington, D.C., on Monday to witness the two cases themselves.

While a repeal of DOMA would be immediately far-reaching, a ruling on Proposition 8 that either upholds a 9th Circuit Court decision striking it down or goes further by applying it past California's borders would also set a legal precedent for the legalization of same-sex marriage, Janis-Kitzmiller said.

"I don't know that one is more important than the other," Janis-Kitzmiller said.

Though the couple is heading east for the arguments, Janis-Kitzmiller said it was important that a vigil be held in Solano County.

"It's important to have events like this because it allows visibility and for people to come together as a community and rally both allies, (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) individuals -- everyone who the issue affects, which is pretty much everyone," Janis-Kitzmiller said.

The vigil will begin at 6 p.m. in front of the county government center, 675 Texas St., Fairfield, and is part of a series of events by the United for Marriage: Light the Way to Justice Coalition.